Work supporting means for sewing machines



D66. 15,1936. c, DEARBORN 2,064,153

WORK SUPPORTING MEANS FOR SEWING MACHINES Qrigina l Filed Oct. 12, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEYJI Dec. 15, 1936.

C. A. DEARBORN WORK SUPPORTING MEANS FOR SEWING MACHINES Original Filed Oct. 12, 1934 s Sheets-Sheet 2 wwzsz Nv QNN.

/: v kNf/ENTOR A Tomlin;

c. A. DEARBORN Dec. 15,1936. 2,064,153

WORK SUPPORTING MEANS FOR SEWING MACHINES Original Filed Oct. 12, 1934 s Sheets-Sheet s Q QR VVIWIIWIIIMMIJ 74% Patented Dec. 15, 1936 ZJBMJSB Charles A. Dearhorn, New York, N. Y., assignor to American Blind Stitch Machine ()ompany, New York, N. Y., a. corporation of'l lew York Application October 12, 1934, Serial No. 748,035

Renewed June 23, 1936 14 Claims.

The present invention is an improvement upon the mechanism covered by my Patent No. 1,964,381 granted June 26, 1934. The machine of said patent and the present improvements apply particularly to the well-known Dearborn type of power driven blind stitch sewing machine in which a yieldingly mounted work support carries an intermittently movable ridge forming member operated by suitable mechanism timed with reference to the stitch forming and feeding mechanisms.

In the machine of said Patent No. 1,964,381 the operating mechanism for the ridge forming member includes a floating pivot or journal for the bell crank lever through which the intermittent motion is imparted to the ridge forming member. This floating pivot or journal is under the control of a cam mechanism by which it is periodically shifted to modify the extent of movement of the ridge forming member, the object, in the patented machine, being to form a succession of deep penetrating stitches for securing a plurality of layers of material of the work together and intervening stitches of less depth to engage none or less than all of the layers. The intervening shallow stitches do not engage the base layer of the work. The shift of the floating pivot or journal is controlled by suitable cam mechanism operated through reduction gears of the required ratio to cause the desired number of shallow stitches to intervene between the deep stitches.

The present invention is designed to modify and improve the mechanism of said patent to produce a stitched fabric comprising a plurality of superposed layers of material secured together by spaced penetrating stitches separated by one or more intervening idle or non-penetrating stitches which lie close to the under or wrong side of the work and are free from the work between the penetrating stitches.

The improved machine moves its ridge forming member periodically into work supporting position in proper relation to the stitch forming mechanism for the formation of the spaced penetrating stitches and, after each penetrating stitch, into non-supporting position to permit the work to move away from the path of the needle and remain in that position while the desired succession of idle or non-penetrating stitches are produced in the form of an unattached chain of stitches between two penetrating stitches The stepby-step work feed operates uniformly through the formation of penetrating and idle stitches. To assist in the control of the work the improved machine is provided with a spring pressed work engaging shoe that holds the work closely upon the ridge forming member while the penetrating stitches are made and also holds the work depressed from the path of the needle while the ridge forming member is in inoperative position and the chain of idle or non-penetrating stitches is produced. It is also desirable to provide a thread engaging member for directing the thread as it is looped back and forth between the neeclle and looper while the work is depressed and the idle stitches are being formed. This thread engaging member is particularly desirable in a machine such as that herein described in which idle stitches are formed, as in such a machine the idle stitches are not closely held by engagement with the work, but it has been found that with other machines of this general type also, especially when making a skip stitch on thin material, the thread engaging member will act to ensure that the thread is disposed in position to be engaged by the-looper. The work engaging shoe is preferably provided with an adjustable iianged Work guiding member for determining the line of stitching. i

In order that the invention may be fully understood it will first be described with reference to the accompanying drawings and the novelty afterwards pointed out in the annexed claims In said drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of a blind stitch sewing machine embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a similar view of the opposite side of the machine. The thread engaging post is not shown in Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail plan view of the fixed presser foot and associated parts;

Figures 4, 5 and 6 are detail vertical longitudinal sectional views of the same showing successive positions of the ridge forming member and associated parts;

Figures '7 and 8 are detail vertical transverse sectional views taken respectively on the section lines ll of Figure 4 and 8--8 of Figure 6;

Figure 9 is a similar view taken on the line 9-9 of Figure 4;

Figure 10 is a detail perspective view of the spring pressed shoe and adjustable gage which co-operate with the ridge forming member; and

Figures 11 and 12 are detail views illustrating opposite faces of the work performed by the improved machine.

The main frame of the machine of the type to which the present improvements are particularly applicable is formed of a single heavy casting having integral strengthening ribs and comprising essentially a rigid central base I, the upwardly extending main arm 2 at the rear terminating in the main shaft bearing sleeve (not shown) from the left of which projects the forwardly extending arm 5 having horizontal bearings i for the needle rock-shaft I5. This forward machine arm 5 also supports the looper and feed bar in the well-known manner hereinafter referred to.

Extending forwardly and upwardly from the front of base I is the integral arm 6 terminating in a sleeve in which is secured the front horizontal bearing shaft or rod 8 upon which is pivoted the work support 40 in the usual manner.

i3 is the main driving shaft of the machine journalled in the main sleeve bearing of the rear arm 2 and having secured at one end the combined driving pulley and flywheel I2.

The needle rock-shaft I5 has rigidly mounted upon its forward end the needle carrying rockarrn H8 in which is mounted the usual curved needie H, which is moved in a direction across the line of stitching and the motion of the feed mechanism. The machine is provided with the usual thread guides and tension devices which are not referred to in detail.

Secured to the rear end of the needle rockshaft I5 is a rock-arm 25 having universal joint connection with link 2'! which encircles a spheroidal eccentric (not shown) mounted upon the main power shaft I9 just inside crank disk I3. This needle operating mechanism is the same as in my former patents and will not be further described.

Projecting downwardly from pivoted work supporting frame 38 is an integral rock-arm 42 en gaged at its lower end by screw stop 41 and a heavy coil spring 43 which extends rearwardly from said arm 42 to one arm of an adjustable stout horizontal bell crank lever 44 which is piv oted to the base I. The work supporting frame 5!! is adjustable in the usual manner.

The work supporting frame 40 is extended to the left to form a work supporting horn as is usual with this type of machine. Journalled in the work supporting frame 40 upon the usual conical axle bearing screws 55 is the oscillating shaft E! which carries the ridge forming member 60 in the form of a broad arm having its laterally beveled outer edge concentric with shaft 6| as shown in Figures 6 and 8. The usual independently yielding work supporting plates or platens iii are mounted upon opposite sides of the ridge forming member 60, each plate I3 being pivoted upon an arm or lever 12 pivoted at i3 upon frame at and provided with a spring 72a.

I90 is the rigidly mounted presser foot project-' ing forwardly from the under face of machine arm 5 to a position above the ridge forming member B8 and the work supporting platens Ill. The presser foot is formed with the usual longitudinal slot into which a ridge of the work is pressed by the member 60 for the action of the stitch forming mechanism.

The looper mechanism of the machine is not involved in the present improvement and is not specifically shown, but it will be understood that the same form of looper is employed as has been used in the past in this Dearborn type of machine, the looper being indicated at I6 carried on the forward end of the looper rod I! carrying on its rear end a yoke pivoted upon a sleeve which is freely journalled upon the crank pin mounted in the angularly offset arm of the crank disk I3. This looper and its operating mechanism will be clearly understood from my 'Patent No. 1,467,570 dated September 11, 1923.

The feed mechanism may be of the general type shown in my Patent No. 814,026 dated March 6, 1906, the specific structure of the same being immaterial to the present invention.

I25 is the longitudinally movable rocking feed bar actuated at its rear end by the usual eccentric (not shown) upon main shaft III.

The depression of the frame for placing the work upon the frame horn beneath the presser foot is accomplished by the usual foot treadle F5 connected by a chain or wire 15a with a link 40a hooked to the rear edge of frame 40.

The shaft SI (supporting ridge forming member 69) has adjustablysecured to it a downwardly presented crank arm (not shown) to which is pivotally connected a link G4 pivoted at 65 to one arm of a bell crank lever 61 pivotally mounted upon a floating pivot or journal 68.

The other arm of the bell crank lever 61 is pivotally connected to the lower end of the usual eccentric link 63 operated by the eccentric I4 secured upon the shaft ID.

The floating pivot 68 is rigidly mounted upon rock-arm I36 extending forwardly from rockshaft I3I which is freely journalled in the frame arm 2 just above the frame base I, as more fully illustrated and described in my above-named Patent No. 1,964,381.

The outer end of the rock-shaft i3! carries an upwardly extending rock-arm I31 operated by cam I39 mounted upon and rotating with a gear MB which is freely journalled upon the machine arm 2 beneath the main shaft III. The gear I40 meshes with and is driven by a smaller gear (not shown) keyed to the shaft ID. These intermeshing gears may have any desired ratio such as 2:1,321, etc., depending upon the number of impulses it is desired to impart to the rock-shaft which carries the floating pivot or journal 68 and controls the variations in stitches.

I33 is a cloth engaging member shown particularly in Figure 10 and consisting of a concave finger shaped to fit the angular periphery of ridge forming member 60 and formed with forwardly inclined cloth engaging teeth I33a which prevent the backward movement of the work beneath said member. The member I33 is formed integral with an arm I34 from which it projects at slightly more than a right angle, the arm I34 projecting over the upper surface of the stationary presser foot I00 and having oppositely projecting integral pivot pins I35 which rest in recesses I00a in the under face of presser foot I83 at opposite ends of an oval shaped opening will) in which the member I33-I34 is pivotally mounted. A presser spring I36 is coiled upon one of the pins I35 with one end in engagement with the top surfaceof presser foot I00 and the other end in engagement with the top surface of arm I34 to retain pivots I35 in recesses 10a and give the member I33 a spring tendency toward the work.

Alongside in rear of and closely adjacent to the needle guiding groove IIlIlc of presser foot I00 and immediately to the right of the presser foot opening is mounted a short upright thread guiding post Iflfld against which the needle thread is guided in the cooperation of the needle and looper in making the idle stitches that do not penetrate the work.

As already stated this thread guiding post is particularly important in a machine such as herein described wherein idle stitches are formed; but it is useful on other types of machines having needle and looper mechanism of the kind herein illustrated, especially when working with thin material, as the thread guiding post in such machines ensures that the thread will be presented to the looper after the needle has entered the Work and starts to return.

As shown the post 189d is of small height and is in the construction illustrated cylindrical in form to present a surface rounded on the side toward the needle path to prevent friction upon the thread. Figs. 7 and 8 illustrate the loop in the thread when the needle starts to recede and the looper is about to pick up the loop, the guide post hifid being located between the pick-up position of the looper and the line of stitching which is parallel to the line of feed.

A work guiding flange i330 has an elongated slot i330: in its arm portion, and a screw i336 passes through said slot and is threaded into an opening in arm E35 by means of which flange I330 can be adjusted laterally uponarm 53 i and cause the line of stitches. to be at the inner edge of the hem of work or further away from said edge of the hem.

The operation of the improved machine in making the described stitched fabric will be clear with but a few additional words of explanation. The cloth with folded hem being properly placed in the machine with the wrong side of the work upwards and the edge of the hem at the right as the operator faces the machine and the inner edge of the hem resting in engagement with the downwardly presented guide flange 133e, the machine is started causing the stitch forming mechanism; to make a stitch transversely of and adjacent to the inner edge of the hem, the stitch being formed in the usual manner through the ridge of work supported upon the ridge forming member 60 in the position shown in Figures 6 and 8, the work in this formation of the stitch being also engaged and pressed closely to the member 60 by the work engaging member I33. Following this work penetrating stitch, the work is fed toward the rear of the machine by the feeding mechanism and the needle again moves in a direction across the line of stitching and the line of feed and toward the ridge of the work for making a second stitch. As the needle approaches the line of stitching that is being formed the operating mechanism of the ridge forming member moves said member away from its starting position toward the front of the machine and permits the work to fall below the path of the needle, the presser member I33 ensuring this movement of the work away from the needle path, with the result the stitch being formed does not penetrate the work, but is made as an idle stitch loose from the work. This formation of idle stitches continues for the desired number of times producing a chain of idle stitches at the completion of which the ridge forming member again presents a ridge of work in the path of the needle and another work penetrating stitch is produced. The penetrating stitches pass through and secure together all of the layers of material in the work and the idle stitches separate the penetrating stitches and are not attached to the work except by the penetrating stitches, the chain of idle stitches resting loosely upon the surface of the upper or wrong side of the work.

Figure 11 shows the under side of a piece of work performed on the new machine in which a hem is joined to the base material. Figure 12 shows the right side of the same piece of work from which it will be observed that the penetrating stitches indicated at a are widely spaced. The intermediate stitches indicated at b in Figure 11 are idle non-penetrating stitches which rest loosely upon the folded over hem of the material. spread apart by the unattached idle stitches b.

I claim:-

1. In a sewing machine, the combination with a driving shaft, stitch forming mechanism, feeding mechanism, and a yielding work support, of a ridge forming member mounted upon said work support and movable thereon into and out of work supporting position, means for pressing the work out of the path of the needle while the ridge forming member is out of Work supporting position, and operating means between said driving shaft and said ridge forming member for periodically moving the latter into and out of The complete stitches a are spaced and work supporting position, said stitch-forming mechanism being timed to form idle non-penetrating stitches while the work is held out of the path of the needle.

2. In a sewing machine, the combination with a driving shaft, stitch forming mechanism, feeding mechanism, and a yielding work support, of a ridge forming member mounted on said Work support and movable into and out of work supporting position, a work engaging member above said ridge forming member pressing the work against said ridge forming member when the latter is in work supporting position and depressing the work below the path of the needle when the ridge forming member is out of work-supporting position, and operating means between said driving shaft and said ridge forming member, said stitch-forming mechanism being timed to form penetrating stitches in the work held in the path of the needle and idle non-penetrating stitches while the work is heldout of the path of the needle.

3. In a sewing machine, the combination with a driving shaft, stitch forming mechanism, feeding mechanism, and a yielding work support, of a ridge forming member mounted upon said work support, means for pressing the Work out of the path of the needle, a work engaging guide for directing the line of stitching, and operating means between said driving shaft and said ridge forming member for periodically moving the latter intoand out of work supporting position, said stitch-forming mechanism being timed with relation to the operation of said ridge-forming member to form both penetrating stitches and intervening idle non-penetrating stitches.

4. In a sewing machine, the combination with a driving shaft, stitch forming mechanism, feeding mechanism, and a yielding work support, of a ridge forming member mounted on said work support and movable into and out of work supporting position, a work depressing member above said ridge forming member pressing the work against said ridge forming member when the lat ter is in work supporting position and depressing the work below the path of the needle when the ridge forming member is out of work supporting position, a work guiding member mounted upon said depressing member, and operating means between said driving shaft and said ridge forming member.

5. In a sewing machine, the combination with a driving shaft, stitch forming mechanism, feeding mechanism, and a yielding work support, of a ridge forming member mounted upon said work support and movable into and out of work supporting position, a work depressing shoe for pressing the work out of the path of the needle while the ridge forming member is out of work supporting position, a flanged work directing guide adjustably mounted upon said work depressing shoe, and operating means between said driving shaft and said ridge forming member for periodically moving the latter into andout of work supporting position.

6. In a sewing machine, the combination with a driving shaft, stitch forming mechanism, feeding mechanism, an overhanging presser foot, and

a yielding work support, of a ridge forming member mounted on said work support and movable into and out of cloth supporting position, a work engaging shoe pivotally mounted upon said presser foot above said ridge forming member pressing the work against said ridge forming member when the latter is in ridge forming position and depressing the work below the path of the needle when the ridge forming member is out of work supporting position, a thread guiding member upon said presser foot, and operating means between said driving shaft and said ridge forming member.

'7. In a sewing machine, the combination with stitch forming mechanism, feeding mechanism, a

- yielding work support, and a ridge forming member mounted upon said work support and movable thereon into and out of work supporting position, of means for pressing the work out of the path of the needle while the ridge forming member is out of work supporting position, and a thread guiding member cooperating with said stitch forming mechanism.

8. In a sewing machine, the combination with a machine frame having an overhanging presser foot, stitch forming mechanism including a needle, work feeding mechanism, and a yielding work support, of a ridge forming member mounted upon said work support and movable thereon into and out of work supporting position, means for pressing the work out of the path of the needle while the ridge forming member is out of work supporting position, and a thread guide mounted upon said presser foot adjacent the path of the needle.

9. In a sewing machine, the combination with a machine frame having an overhanging presser foot, stitch forming mechanism including a needle, work feeding mechanism, and a yielding work support, of a ridge forming member mounted upon said work support and movable thereon into and out of work supporting position, means for pressing the work out of the path of the needle while the ridge forming member is out of work supporting position, and an upright thread guiding post mounted upon said presser foot adjacent to the path of the needle to guide the thread in cooperation with said needle.

10. In a sewing machine, the combination of a work support, feeding mechanism, a looper, a needle operable across the line of feed, a ridgeforming member, a stationary presser foot and a thread guiding member mounted on the presser foot adjacent to and in rear of the path of the needle.

11. In a sewing machine, the combination of a work support, feeding mechanism, a looper, a needle operable across the line of feed, a ridgeforming member, a stationary presser foot and a rounded post projecting upward from and rigid with the presser foot in rear of and adjacent to the path of the needle to act as a thread guide.

12. In a sewing machine, in combination, a presser foot having an aperture therein, a work support, feeding mechanism, a ridge-forming member adapted to present a ridge of material through the aperture in said presser foot, a needle operable above said presser foot to produce a line of stitching parallel to the line of feed, a looper adapted to pick up the loop of thread thrown out on one side of the line of stitching on each stroke of the needle, and a thread-guiding member mounted on the upper side of said presser foot on the loop-pick-up side of the line of stitching and adjacent to and in rear of the path of the needle.

13. In a sewing machine, in combination, a presser foot having an aperture therein, a work support, feeding mechanism, a ridge-forming member adaptedto present a ridge of material through the aperture in said presser foot, a needle operable above said presser foot to produce a line of stitching parallel to the line of feed, a looper adapted to pick up the loop of thread thrown out on one side of the line of stitching on each stroke of the needle, and a thread-guiding member mounted on the upper side of said presser foot between the looper in its pick-up position and the line of stitching and adjacent to and in rear of the path of the needle.

14. In a sewing machine, in combination, a presser foot having an aperture therein, a work support, feeding mechanism, a ridge-forming member adapted to present a ridge of material through the aperture in said presser foot, a needle operable above said presser foot to produce a line of stitching parallel to the line of feed, a loop-er adapted to pick up the loop of thread thrown outon one side of the line of stitching on each stroke of the needle, and a rounded post projecting upward from said presser foot between the looper in its pick-up position and said line of feed and adjacent to and in rear of the path of the needle.

CHARLES A. DEARBORN. 

